So, I've been vocally against Clean Reader's tactics. They want to take other people's books and "fix" them to be cleaner? What's that all about? Then I fall in love with paintings like the one on the left here.

Now wait a minute, JEN, (I think to myself) aren't you being hypocritical? Maybe.

It's true that someone painted these thrift store paintings before another artist came along and "gave them second life." It's also true that Mr. Sendak might not appreciate his characters being injected into a painting that he had no say in, either. So why do I love this painting - and others like it - so much?

I think the difference is the result. For example, if someone bought my book (hey, I'm dreaming here, OK? I know I'm not published yet). IF someone were to buy my book and then wrote comments as a character in the margins... Assuming it was done well, and the result complemented my original work, then I might buy that copy myself!

On the other hand, if my story used the word "butt" and "sucks" and other words people don't like to read, and someone wanted to replace those words with nicer ones before buying my book, then I'd have a problem with that. I'd rather that someone not buy my book at all.

My point is that while I don't approve of a customer changing art before buying it, I love watching artists put their own touch on art they've already bought. I love it because the result takes on a new kind of beauty.

Or maybe I'm only justifying my hypocrisy. I'm open to that possibility.

Hi, I agree with you, and I don't think it's hypocritical. One feels like artistic expression, and the other feels more like censorship of expression... I remember watching an edited-for-TV version of Die Hard, and wincing in pain at the Yippee-Ki-Aye Keemo Sabe line... I'd rather they just muted the sound than tried to replace a swear word with something out of character!

Now that I think about it, I think my opinion is different now than when I was growing up. My mom used to rave about those little black boxes that would clean up TV shows, but now I see how that's offensive. It's better just not to watch the shows in the first place.

One thing about made for TV movies though - I think at least they got permission from the artists first.